


running home to you

by marechiar



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Colorblind Soulmate AU, F/F, Soulmate AU, angst? kinda angst, i still haven't decided if this will have a happy ending, well now i'm just procrastinating on my work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 19:00:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30127371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marechiar/pseuds/marechiar
Summary: Riley was the first to tell her about it. It’s really quite simple. No colors whatsoever until you’re eighteen. Then, little flashes. Faded impressions, to preserve and remember next time you choose what to wear and where to look. But the real deal happens when you meet your soulmate. They say, the ones who were lucky enough, that the world with color is incredible. The forests are green and brown and dark, and the sun is yellow, sometimes white, and always warm. The sky can be blue and orange and pink too, and Ellie wants to see it for herself. But she won't have to wait for long. After all, her birthday is tomorrow.orthe colorblind soulmate au, where you can't see colors unless you meet your soulmate. which can be quite difficult, if you're a lesbian teenager living in a post-apocalyptic world.
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us), Ellie & Jesse (The Last of Us), Ellie & Joel (The Last of Us)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37





	running home to you

_This world can race by far too fast_  
_Hard to see while it's all flyin' past_  
_But it's clear now_  
_When you're standin' here now_  
_I am meant to be_  
_Wherever you are next to me_

_All I wanna do_  
_Is come runnin' home to you_

Ellie didn’t like waking up early. She didn’t see the beauty of being awake before the sun. She doesn’t particularly appreciate the snow softly falling, or the quiet all around, only interrupted by patrols coming home after days stranded on routes.

She likes sleeping, and the comfort of her own bed. She likes the days where she’s not assigned to anything, and can just stroll by Joel’s house to have breakfast with him. She keeps to herself, mostly, nabbing at a piece of bacon while the settlement around her gets to work.

She likes watching children orderly walking to the school and listen to an old man playing guitar outside Seth’s pub.

Dina, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. Used to wake up early in the wilds, she’s up before the first birds start to sing. And on the days Ellie sleeps with her, cuddled into her arms, she makes extra attention not to wake her best friend up.

She makes tea (or coffee, if a trader has stumbled by Jackson the day before) and gets to work. She’s still up for patrols, of course, but her main occupation is the clinic now. She doesn’t love the white walls and the smell of antiseptic and the bad memories, but still. It’s good to be able to help.

When Ellie wakes up, Dina is usually gone, but there’s a plate with a full breakfast on it, and a smiley face on a piece of paper. Sometimes there’s a heart. Sometimes there’s “We ran out of milk” and “The backyard fence needs a repair” and “Remember to bring me lunch, dork.”

Ellie loves Dina, she really does. They grew up together, Dina comforted her when she and Cat broke up, listening to her adolescence drama in endless nights, always offering a kind smile or a warm hand. They’re best friends. Ellie likes Dina’s boyfriend, Jesse, his malicious sense of humor and the fact he always brings her back a comic book when coming back from patrol. She’s made up her own little life, with her own found family, and she’s happy.

But one thing bugs her. She knows the sky is blue and orange and black, she knows the snow is white, she knows infected are red with blood and hunger, but she really would like to see it for herself. When looking in the mirror, unsure if she’s wearing mismatched clothes, she dreams about what would it be like to see colors.

Riley was the first to tell her about it. It’s really quite simple. No colors whatsoever until you’re eighteen. Then, little flashes. Faded impressions, to preserve and remember next time you choose what to wear and where to look. But the real deal happens when you meet your soulmate. They say, the ones who were lucky enough, that the world with color is incredible. The forests are green and brown and dark, and the sun is yellow, sometimes white, and always warm. The sky can be blue and orange and pink too, and Ellie wants to see it for herself. But she won't have to wait for long. After all, her birthday is tomorrow.

Ellie has always wanted to know what color Dina’s eyes really were. Of course, soulmates are a silly concept in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, really. Most people were either dead, wanted to kill you, or were actively trying to have your left leg for lunch. You had to be extremely lucky to have your soulmate not to fall into one of these categories. But still, it was fun to think about.

She’s not eighteen yet. She’s gonna be soon though, and she is equally impatient and afraid. What if she never sees colors? What if she and her soulmate simply didn’t meet? If she was dead before the other was born? Or what if at the same time she was living her whole life in the US and the other had never left Europe?

Ellie shrugs off these thoughts on her way to the gate. She was about to go on patrol, a short route to clear out infected that may have wandered too close to the settlement. As she walks, she takes in her surroundings. Children lazily walking to the school, hand in hand with their parents, dragging tiny feet through the fresh mud.

Men and women talking, chattering, bickering under the light of the still-rising sun, most of them with bags under their eyes that never really go away with time. Ellie spots Jesse climbing up a guard tower, being put on watch guard duty after a patrol had gone bad a few days earlier. He came back bruised, with a swollen ankle and other people’s blood on his hands.

When she finally reaches the gate, Ellie’s ready. She’s got her backpack, her gun, and her switchblade. A horse is promptly conducted to her, she nods to the stable worker who usually doesn’t talk too much. Ellie likes him, he reminds her of Joel.

Before she can hop on Shimmer, though, she’s stopped in her tracks by a familiar voice calling from afar. Hiding a little smirk, Ellie turns around just in time to see Dina jogging towards her.

“Out for patrol?” The shorter girl asks, catching her breath a little.

“Yeah, shouldn’t take more than a day and a half.” Ellie shrugs, “I’m taking Peter with me” she points to a sixteen years old boy who’s talking with Maria

“Shit, no way!” Dina laughs under her breath “I remember him, he became cute” Ellie rolls her eyes

“Yeah, it’s his first patrol, I’ve been assigned to teach him how to survive in the wilds” Dina shoves her lightly, eyes shining with malice

“Yeah, go show him how to be clumsy and fall flat on your face every two steps”

“That was one time! One!” Ellie throws her arms up, an exasperated look on her face, but can’t stop smiling.

Dina seemed to have this effect on her. Whenever she was around the older girl, she couldn’t help but feel calm and content. After so many years of passing through one storm to another, she can appreciate calm. And even if she doesn’t know what color Dina’s favorite flowers are, or what shades the sky is right now, she knows the feeling of being home and the warm honey-like sensation of just existing with Dina under the stars.

“Well, you better get going”

Dina hugs her, then stops to adjusts her collar, which’s slightly crooked to the left. She’s close, right now, maybe too close. Ellie can smell her shampoo, and the faint, acrid odor of the clinic Dina’s assigned to today.

“And try to be back before your birthday! You know what happens at midnight” She murmurs, for only Ellie to hear.

“What, I’m gonna get a surprise? I hope it’s candy” The latter jokes, but her heart is stumping in her chest. In a day or so, hopefully, she’s finally going to see colors. Maybe. If the universe has her back.

Ellie says her goodbyes to Dina, then jumps on the horse and heads through the gate, Peter on her tail. They venture into the woods, dark and threatening even during the day. She turns around one last time, and she can catch a glimpse of a person still standing behind the gate as it is closing. She can’t shake Dina’s last look off of her after that.

***

As it turns out, the universe does not have her back. As a matter of fact, the universe is fucking kicking her ass. They’ve been traveling for three hours now, and they’ve already encountered three runners, one clicker, and a very pissed raccoon who tried to steal their food. Ellie is dirty and gross with infected’s flesh on her flannel, after their meeting with the clicker.

She sometimes asks herself if she sports a signal saying “Bite me! It does nothing!” on her back because these walking corpses love to throw themselves at her. She feels hot under the burning sun, and right now she’s also kind of pissed because Peter has a serious problem with his aiming.

Just as she stops and turns to show him how to hold a rifle, and to aim at an infected and not at her, she sees the rifle falling off his hands. She’s about to reprimand him, she’s about to roll her eyes, but she jumps instead when blood starts dripping drop by drop from his mouth.

He goes limp, falling off his horse, an arrow perfectly embedded into the back of his neck. She doesn’t have time to scream, to turn around, to do something. She holds her breath, feels a sharp pain radiating from her shoulder. Then her leg. Her horse falls to the ground, she hits her head. Everything goes black.

**Author's Note:**

> alright so here we are. i haven't written sumn in the LONGEST time and english is not my first language, so please don't come for me. i just needed to try and get my writing back in action. stay safe out there folks


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